It was only a matter of time before malls starting sharing the pain of the brick and mortar retail outlets they house. The real estate market has been slow to adjust to this new reality, and the amount of commercial real estate built for retail has continued to grow even as demand has declined….

A generation ago, malls were the hot new thing; now they seem a little passé. Two generations ago teenagers hung out downtown or cruised the streets. In the last generation they hung out at the mall. What the future holds, nobody knows — except that one way or another teenagers will continue to do things their parents wish they wouldn’t.

Probably hang out in some of the less-reputable neighborhoods of the Metaverse.